SuBsonic Creations MEDIA INFORMATION PAGE Page. Web Hosting, Web Design, Dimain Names, Marketing Graphic Design For personal, small business and Corporate.

This section is here to give some information for those who like doing homework. (People do!) It is provided to give you a bit of a guide to getting your web site up for those who are not interested in technical stuff (the technical section is for that) but who are more interested in getting their web site working well for their audience. It will change from time to time as new issues arise.

Decisions Decisions!
Nutting out the concept
What to do differently on the web
What do you call yourself?
SEX, FROGS EGGS and shattered dreams.
INERTIA and Boredom
Wrapping up

Decisions Decisions ! OK you are thinking of getting on the web. Ask yourself this question... WHY?..You may want to read on before hand, but in any case you should go away and think about it for a while.

Nutting out the concept OK you've had a think and you have decided that a web site will benefit you or your business. So what do you do next? The next step is to decide on the feel of the site. This is a good time to look at all your existing stationery (or proposed stationery) and go out and find people who can be brutally frank. If the overwhelming response is positive then use that as a basis for your web site. On the other hand if everyone started dry reaching at your proposal then it's time to re-think the whole thing. While being totally rejected is not everyone's favourite pastime it can save you a lot of money in the end. It's not easy but it is best in the long run. This step is the same for print and Web and TV and Radio. You are putting forward an image to the world and it might as well be a good one right!
BE CAREFUL not come up with a concept that looks like another cheap me too copycat company. You want to be noticed and recognised without confusion. Your own personal visual clues are important. Ask yourself why large companies spend so much money protecting their brand image and that should give you a clue as to why it is important to have a unique identity.

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What to do differently on the web. If you think you now have a killer concept you can start scribbling away on a piece of paper. You are not trying to design a site here. Don't get trapped into becoming a web designer (unless you are already). Your expertise is in your knowledge of your target audience and what you want to achieve. What you are doing here is relaxing with a pad and paper and jotting down idea's. The previous exercise was about your image, this exercise is about giving value, convenience and relevant information to your customers. You want to narrow down the information that you put on your site to a priority list. E.G. 1) Services and why your are the greatest 2) Contact information 3) Details on individual products. 4) Newsletters 5) Personal soap box. You have to decide this for yourself. If your er.."borrow " someone else's idea make sure it is applicable to you or your business. There are a few things that the web is superior to print. Here are a few.

Convenience. 24 hours/7 days a week your site is available.
Reach. - Worldwide. It's not called the World Wide Web for nothing!
Distribution costs. - Minimal. No printing costs. No staff/personal time collating brochures. No postage. No running up to get it to the Post office in time. No 1 to 3 day wait. You can also present more information on the WEB than on print. If you had a 50 page photocopied pamphlet before because it cost way too much to print that full colour glossy then NOW is the chance to get it out. The set-up cost will be similar but the cost of distribution is now probably about 1 percent of what it was before
Presentation. - Colour cost's no more to distribute than Grey or black and white. You must keep in mind here that print versions may still be needed BUT the amount will be reduced.
Less waste Now you don't have to throw a box load of old brochure out every time you update.
Time to press Once an update is ready you can have it available within minutes.

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What do you call yourself? If you are in business someone may have heard of you. Late one night they sit down at their computer and remember that your name was something like ASTRAL TRAVELLER. If your DOMAIN NAME is www.astraltraveller.com.au they are likely to find you before they go off to a search engine. If you have one of those free or el-cheapo domain names like www.hugeserverspace.com.au/users/local/~astraltraveller/index.htm what chance do you think they will have?. They will have to run off to a search engine to find you (as well as 100 other astral travellers). If you are serious register a domain name! We can advise of the pros and cons on domain names for each individual client.

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SEX, FROGS EGGS and shattered dreams Have a quick look at these numbers:

1,002,357
1

. These numbers represent the number of people searching for the terms "SEX" and "Gourmet frogs eggs" respectively, in a one month period on a major search engine. The point here is that if you rank number one on a search engine and you are selling Gourmet Frogs Eggs your total hit rate for the month would expected to be 1. If on the other hand you were selling something to do with SEX then you would have more than 1 million hit's IF you are the ONLY ONE SELLING SEX!
My point here is that many Web marketing people can get your hit rate up by including popular search terms in your pages but it is pretty meaningless if you have just made 1 million people waste their time. You would be better off having 1000 people hit your site and find it was relevant than have 1 million people hit your site and remember never to go back again. Search engine companies are on to this as well. The more garbage a user has to wade through the less happy they are. The trick here is to use your relevant search terms in the most effective manner. The other major point here is that people search on things they know about. If you wish to sell something obscure it is often better to sell SEX AND GOURMET FROGS EGGS and hope that your GOURMET FROGS EGGS attract enough interest from SEXY people to start the next revolution in foods.
The internet is BIG - but if the total world wide demand is 500 unit's a month then that is it! SO be realistic. Do not expect to make Billions off GOURMET FROGS EGGS in the first few months. It doesn't matter whether 1 million people see your site, You may not get that much interest.
The whole web marketing space is a bit more complicated than "more hit's equals more business". From the example above you can see that we could get you up to 1 million hit's a month for your frogs eggs but your business would probably still be small. The most effective strategy is to generate a list of appropriate search words and terms and then to use those that are most effective. This used to be called qualifying your customer. The best outcomes are achieved by finding the maximum amount of qualified & interested customers. qualified by being relevant to what they are searching for and interested because you have what they want and your site looks professional. This is exactly why sales reps do not wear rags. Your web site and other media is your new age suit. Wear the best one you can afford. Some things do not change and in the end you are still dealing with real people.

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INERTIA and Boredom A web site is at heart an information sharing medium. It can be interactive, COOL, HIP and all those other hyped up things. It is a very valuable resource. It has enormous potential and it is getting more useful by the month.
Most people are well aware of the Web and currently 50 percent of people in Australia have regular access to it. Everyone has finite resources to devote to publishing and it is useful to look at where the money is spent and why you are spending it. If you have a rush of blood to the head and go and get that web site done DO NOT just let it sit and languish. If someone visit's a web site that has not had an update for 3 years it gives the impression you are out of business. There are many reasons for dead sites. Some people expected that business would boom after the Web site went up. Others expected that they could cut costs and do it themselves only to find that the result was poor and the time it took was taking there focus away from what they do day to day. Yet others based their whole concept on being online and have now had a part time job for the last 6 months to keep the business running. The amount of mis-information out there is staggering. Just as with teller machines people have to become used to using the medium. As time ticks by your telephone will probably be replaced with a NET device that is online permanently connected to your local telco. Or maybe TV's and the internet will converge. Whatever the outcome it is becoming the primary source for information gathering because of it's convenience and quality. It is not yet a "go anywhere" medium like radio and print but that is appearing at the moment as well.

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Wrapping up The Web is the most important thing to happen to information for a long time. Combined with other forms of media it is a very powerful tool. The amount of resources devoted to your web site will vary according to your business. Some business will find that a small percentage is fine, others should devote a great deal to this medium. The whole point of the exercise is to use each medium to it's best advantage. Paper print costs can be reduced, time to market speeded up, automated ordering is possible, e business, B2B, e-commerce etc is all about streamlining the human/information interface. It is early days yet and it is getting harder to compete without a total package. A well targeted, relevant web site is an important part of any marketing/sales mix and is getting more important by the month. But it is not the only medium to consider. Your main focus is you or your business and this should be reflected in your presence in all media. Managing the intertwined aspects of all this is what is important.

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